COVINGTON – The Covington Buccaneers came out firing with a big first quarter, scoring 26 points, and never looked back in a 68-41 victory over Cross County Conference foe Mississinawa Valley.
The Buccs fired in five triples in the opening frame, two each from Carly Shell and Jessie Crowell and one by Arianna Richards, to open up a sizeable lead.
Mississinawa Valley coming in was short-handed a couple of players including its best outside threat, Mikayla Stump, and the Hawks struggled to find offense.
But the Blackhawks settled down and started to break the press in the second quarter and even converted some layups, scoring 14 points … but the Buccs upped them one tally to take a 41-21 halftime lead.
“We came out and shot the ball really well tonight, and even though we got off to a good start I didn’t feel like we played with full intensity, and that is something we are trying to work on, getting the girls to give maximum effort,” Covington girls basketball coach Craig Maschino said.
“We have a little bit deeper bench then we have had in the past, and we can go nine deep if were healthy, and I want the girls to give maximum effort and have to ask for a breather because they have played hard,” Maschino added.
In the third quarter the two team played fairly even again, but the Buccs won the quarter 14-12 to go up 55-33.
Covington then coasted home for a 68-41 win.
“We haven’t hit a hot streak yet shooting the ball … but we got close today, and I was pleased with that,” Maschino said.
“We need to continue to work on our defense. Our press was good, but we got lazy in the half-court, and we have to shore that up,” Maschino concluded.
“Every game we play we get a little better, and today we tried to focus on tempo,” Mississinawa coach John Hersey said.
“Our girls run around 90 mph and can’t slow the game down in their heads, and I thought once we got past the first quarter we did a good job in the second and third quarters playing with some tempo and scoring in the half-court,” Hershey added.
“Even though we came up short today there were some positives, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Hershey concluded.
The Buccs had a balanced attack on offense and were led by Jessie Crowell with 19 points, Carly Shell had 13 (all in the first half), Sammi Whiteman 11 and Arianna Richards 10.
Mississinawa we led by Kelsie Hunt with 12 points.
The Buccs have a huge game on Tuesday when they travel to Newton in a key CCC matchup.
Mississinawa will host Miami East on Tuesday.
Box score:
Score by quarters:
Covington…….26…15…14…13 – 68
Mississinawa…07…14…12…08 – 41
Individual scoring:
Covington (6-2, 4-1)
Arianna Richards 10, Lexie Long 4, Samantha Whiteman 11, Brooke Gostomsky 4, Jessie Crowell 19, Carly Shell 13, Tori Lyle 2, Jordan Crowell 5 – Totals 8-21-2/7 – 68
Mississinawa Valley (1-6, 0-4)
Kylie Willis 6, Olivia Murphy 5, Kelsie Hunt 12, Leslie Dirksen 8, Madison Stachler 4, Sidnie Hunt 4, Bailey Johnson 2 – Totals 1-14-8/14 – 41
3-pointers
COV 8 (Carly Shell 3, Jessie Crowell 3, Arianna Richards 2)
MV 1 (Kylie Willis)
